Steven Isserlis
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.4 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2007
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the cellist Steven Isserlis. It is, perhaps, little surprise that music has been central to his life. He was born into a family that already boasted a pianist, violinist and viola player within its ranks and so, as a child, he was taught the cello because it meant they could play chamber music together. Music was so much a part of their lives, he says, that even the pet dog would howl along an accompaniment as they played.
He was seen as a brilliant young cellist but he was determined not to become a jobbing musician, touting for work in different orchestras, and as a result he suffered nearly a decade with precious few musical engagements. It was The Protecting Veil - a composition by John Tavener - that made his name and now he has become one of the world's finest cello virtuosos.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Erbarme Dich - Have Mercy Lord on Me by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The collected works by Anthony Trollope Luxury: A huge, huge photo album of friends.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Krestey Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. |
| 0:05.0 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:08.2 | The program was originally broadcast in 2007. My cast away this week is the cellist Stephen Iserless, his flawless technique and dedication to authenticity have brought him huge critical |
| 0:35.9 | acclaim as the ultimate virtuoso. Yet the dream of fulfilling his artistic destiny threatened |
| 0:41.3 | to end as a nightmare with a decade in the professional wilderness, |
| 0:44.6 | living the life of a virtually starving artist. |
| 0:47.2 | Now he ranks among the world's finest cellists, and given his background, perhaps that's |
| 0:52.0 | little surprise. |
| 0:53.0 | Distantly related to Mendelssohn, he comes from a long line of musicians. |
| 0:57.5 | His own musical instructions started before he could write. |
| 1:01.0 | With two older sisters playing the viola and the violin, the decision was made |
| 1:05.1 | for him that he should learn the cello. That way it was easier for the family to play chamber |
| 1:10.0 | music together. Music he says was so central to their existence that even their pet dog used to sing along. Is that true? |
| 1:17.0 | That is very true. Explain. Well, we had the standard in Montreal, Monteria, I adored, and he would how along when we practice, but particularly |
| 1:30.4 | there's a Mozart piano sonata in C major. He would howl to that unfailingly and if we change key from |
| 1:36.2 | C major to B major or C sharp major he would stop. |
| 1:39.6 | Obviously his chords were touched by C major he was quite a stern critic |
| 1:45.1 | most people especially when they are talking to me on this program talk about |
| 1:49.5 | music being you showed me their picture of him on your t-shirt. You do love him. |
| 1:54.0 | I love him. He's still there next to your heart as it were. |
| 1:57.2 | People talk about music being the sound track to their lives, but actually when it comes to you we seem to be talking about |
| 2:04.7 | something altogether different I mean the the breaths you've taken seem to be tied up |
... |
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